Star Wars with occasional sarcasm

Tag Archives: rebels (cartoon)

It’s apparently Rebels week in releaseland, as we have the paperback edition of John Jackson Miller’s A New Dawn out on Tuesday. The hardcover dropped back before the show had even aired, so I expect the story of how Hera and Kanan met will find more of an audience now. James liked it! And hey, it’s John Jackson Miller, hard to go wrong there.

For those already all in on Rebels lit, Marvel launches their fourth Star Wars title Wednesday with Kanan: The Last Padawan #1. It’s also a Rebels prequel, and Marvel’s first foray into the prequel era. StarWars.com has a five-page preview.

There are several issues with the old Expanded Universe that I was hopeful would be addressed in the new Star Wars canon, and chief among them is how much the general public knew about Darth Vader and his connection to the Skywalkers.

When the EU started in earnest in the early ’90s, Vader’s identity as Anakin Skywalker and his relation to Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa was still a secret: It’s actually a huge plot point throughout Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn trilogy. But as the EU, um, expanded, it became less and less so, until it was just public knowledge not only that Darth Vader was Anakin Skywalker, but that both Luke and Leia were his kids. It doesn’t seem like it was ever planned or addressed: It just happened, and the full implications were almost never addressed. Such were the early days of continuity. But with the old EU now set aside as Legends, how much does the galaxy actually know?

Dave Filoni talks further about the Rebels finale, the return of Ahsoka and what’s up next with IGN. There’s an interesting bit on how there was a lot of interest in exploring hercontinuing story in other media, where Filoni argues in favor of, basically, delayed gratification:

I always feel strongly that while we can have everything at our fingertips right now, something that made Star Wars so powerful to me growing up was we would go through a long period of time where we wondered what happened to Han Solo. He was stuck in carbonite. Now, everything’s instant. But I think we built a deep love and connection to our characters because, for lack of a better term, we dreamed about what they were going through. We wondered and we anticipated, so when the payoffs came, I think it was a lot better, a lot stronger, so I thought making people wait to find out what happened to Ahsoka just built up her mystique a little bit more, a little bit better until we nailed her down.

He also addresses the challenge of Vader, including the (inevitable?) Ahsoka confrontation, the Inquisitor, the larger Rebel Alliance and more.

In a Facebook note, Dave Filoni and the crew thank fans for the reaction to the Rebels finale and the return of Ahsoka.

Nothing could have prepared us for the outpouring of emotion and cheers when Ahsoka Tano appeared. As someone who has watched over her character from the beginning, I was overwhelmed by the reaction. Little Soka has come a long way, and I think many fans have grown up right alongside her. I look forward to your continuing journey with her, as she attempts to guide our Rebel heroes in these dark and dangerous times.

Season 2 of Rebels will feature a character voiced by none other than Buffy herself, Sarah Michelle Gellar. She does have an ‘in:’ her husband, Freddie Prinze Jr., voices Kanan, but… She’s Buffy. Isn’t that enough?

Fulcrum was revealed in last night’s ‘Fire Across the Galaxy,’ and this is the last post where I’m going to dance around that. In ‘Rebels Recon’ they talk about the returning characters, and give us a peek at Rebels S2.

Lucasfilm has confirmed that Darth Vader himself will be showing up for the Rebels season finale, as previously rumored. Of course, the bigger – and more shocking, if it plays out – part of said rumor is still under lock and key, officially.

You get a brief glimpse of him here:

Vader has already appeared on the show once, in holograph form, an extra scene added when ‘Spark of Rebellion’ aired on ABC.

The Rebels season finale, ‘Fire Across the Galaxy,’ will debut Monday, March 2, on Disney XD.

Rebels heads into the finale with ‘Rebel Resolve,’ and Andi chats with Taylor Gray, Freddie Prinze Jr. and Vanessa Marshall about their characters, and Dave Filoni reveals the likely fate of the courier droid. And Pablo answers two questions, including Hera’s exact relation to Cham Syndulla of The Clone Wars.